By Andrew Mach on U.S. News

  • Video of Florida girls fighting goes viral, outrages parents

    A video of a fight between two young girls in Tampa, Fla., has outraged parents and law enforcement officials.


    Viewed thousands of times since it was posted to Facebook, the video shows a 7-year-old girl knocking a 6-year-old girl off an air conditioning unit, and then beating her on the ground, while being encouraged by her older sister. The date the video was taken is unclear.

    Authorities got involved after a woman in Georgia saw the video online and alerted police, NBC affiliate WFLA in Tampa reported.


    “I think anybody that would see this would be shocked,” Tampa Police Major Brian Dugan told WFLA. “The behavior of the 7-year-old and the 14-year-old to encourage this, and it’s wrong.”

    The two girls are friends, WFLA reported, and they regularly spend the night at each other’s homes, which is why the father of the 7-year-old says he was stunned and angered by the video.  

    “I couldn’t watch no more, especially when I heard the child say leave me alone, stop, stop, stop,” the father told WFLA, adding that he immediately punished his 7-year-old daughter and is still upset at his 14-year-old daughter. “I am disappointed in her. She made a mistake. I can't hold it against her ... but to me she made a big mistake to the point I am still mad at her."

    The 6-year-old’s mother told the station she didn’t plan to press charges, but the state attorney’s office has taken over the case. The teenage girl does not have a criminal past, and police say she may go through a counseling program as a result of the incident, WFLA reported. 

    The father of the girls said he hope hopes his daughters learned a lesson.

    "That won't happen again, you can believe that, you can believe that won't happen again, and I apologize to the parent. It just happens it is a messed up situation,” he told WFLA. 

    Meanwhile, Tampa police say they don't know who posted the video to Facebook but are trying to figure out how to stop people from viewing the it online, WFLA reported. 

    “We have reached out to Facebook and asked them to remove the video,” Dugan said.

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  • Baby bears make off with Chinese food as homeowner watches

    View more videos at: http://nbclosangeles.com.

    Picnic baskets, candy bars, jars of honey -- you name it, bears aren't picky. 

    That rule was on full display when a baby brown bear made its way into a California home via a doggie door, ransacked the kitchen and took off with a bag of dog food and homemade Chinese food, which was promptly shared with a fellow young bear waiting outside.

    Justin Lee said he was at his Monrovia home alone Wednesday with his dog when the unwelcome dinner guests arrived.

    "I look over and I see this bear head sticking out, and it broke through our window screen and it's peeking into our home," Lee, 25, told NBCLosAngeles.com. "And that's when I just started really freaking out and just stared at it. The bear was staring at me."

    Jason Lee

    A baby bear broke into a house in Monrovia, Calif., on Wednesday while homeowner Jason Lee was there.

    After locking eyes with the bruin, Lee snapped a few photos, grabbed his dog and ran upstairs. 

    He then called 911. When animal control officers arrived, they found the bears in the backyard dining on the food. Though the animals weren't aggressive, officials used bean bag darts to scare the pair back into the woods. 

    Bear sightings and home invasions are a common occurrence in the hillside community. 

    Just last year, a bear broke into a home and raided the refrigerator, chowing down on pork chops before the homeowner could scare it away.

    Jason Lee

    The bear reportedly stole dog food and Chinese food and shared it with his buddy outside.